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During the day, Ven acted like Sora, full of laughs and cheerful. If anyone noticed that he sometimes hover near Aqua and Terra with wide eyes, lips tinted in nostalgia and hands twitching as if to touch them to confirm that they weren't a dream, no one said anything. For someone who slept for nearly a decade, it was probably a natural behaviour.
Aqua was a gentle presence amongst the group of rag-tag warriors. Someone had to be as Sora, Ven and Riku would make anything and everything a friendly competition while traveling between worlds. She wouldn't discourage the competitions as she would always share a 'what-can-you-do-look- with Kairi. Aqua would only step in when it got too rowdy. She would laugh quietly and watched over the three and when Sora turned to look back sometimes, there was something in her eyes that made Sora's heart happy and sad.
Terra…Terra made Sora sad. What made Sora sad was that sometimes, Terra would seek physical contact but would always, always withdraw and wait for Ven or Aqua to initiate the first contact. It was like Terra believed he shouldn't taint the two since he was the one who fell into darkness. Sora knew this because Riku was like this too once, before he and Kairi proved that thought wrong (there might have been scolding from Kairi and endless hugs from Sora before Riku got the point). He always hung out at the back of the group, a quiet though reassuring existence that he'll guard the back. King Mickey would often walk with Terra to keep him company. Ven and Aqua would switch with King Mickey sometimes and the three friends would talk in hush voices, mending their bond.
At night though, when the group picked out a campsite to sleep before traveling, the three keybladers were different. There was an unspoken rule within the group that the three would not take first guard watch. There was a fear that if they do take guard watch, they would never sleep and stay awake the whole night.
The three would resist sleep, only falling into slumber when they couldn't anymore; Ven probably didn't want to sleep since he slept for so long already. Aqua, due to habit while wondering around the dark realm, couldn't sleep as easily as she was always on constant vigilance against creatures of the dark. Sora wondered if Terra didn't want to sleep because he was afraid of having nightmares of when he was possessed from Xehanort (Riku used to have nightmares because of Ansem, but they were really rare now).
Terra generally fell asleep first, curling into a tight ball. It would've been a bit funny to see a large, muscled man like Terra curling up like a cat, but Sora noticed how the man's eyebrows would be furrowed and mouth scowling as he slept. Ven eventually nodded off while sitting up, sleeping in a way that would surely make him wake up with a kink in his neck.
Aqua always ended up in the middle if the other two fell asleep first. She would gently lay Ven's body down until his head was on her lap. With on hand on Ven's head and the other cupping the back of Terra's head, it's then that Sora thinks that Aqua looks protectively-fierce, like a mama-bear protecting her cubs from any danger.
Sometimes, if Aqua kept running on pure stubbornness for over a long period of time, she'll finally succumb to sleep first with Ven and Terra keeping watch over her. Terra would ever so gently rearrange Aqua so her head would rest on his shoulder. Ven huddled in close on Aqua's other side, always on the side so his dominant hand would be free to summon Wayward Wind at any time.
Sora liked it best when Ven falls asleep first. He somehow manages to snag the sleeves of the older key blade wielders in a death grip. It's only then that Sora hears and sees the fond smile and chuckles from the two who snuggle in close since Ven's arms were kinda short and they had to be close to be comfortable for sleeping. From his position, Sora could hear a muffled conversation and maybe since they've shared a heart, Sora swears he could feel Ven smiling and posing in victory.
Watching them made Sora glad he was able to find Riku and Kairi again within two years, he couldn't imagine traveling for almost a decade before he could see the two of them again. A heavy hand smacked his chest. "You're thinking so hard that I can hear you."
Kairi's smaller body came closer to Sora's side, murmuring about how cold it was.
Sora turned to his other side and grinned when sleepy teal eyes glared back down at him. "What are you smiling about?"
The brunet smiled even bigger because of how Riku was slurring his words. "Nothing." He sang back.
Riku raised his hand and pinched Sora's nose. "Brat."
Sora squawked and flailed a bit, making Kairi groan and smack Sora on the head.
Riku suddenly let out a noise of his own when a large hand ruffled his hair.
"Kids should be sleeping now." Terra stated as he passed by the 'sleeping' trio.
"We're not kids!"
Terra tapped Aqua on the shoulder to wake her up for her shift on guard watch. The two smiled and gently transferred Ven's head from Aqua's lap to Terra's. He passed a hand through the blond spikes as the younger boy grumbled.
"Quiet now. The King and the others are asleep." Aqua said, laughing softly as the three froze and twisted to see if they had woken up.
"Gwarsh. We aren't awake at all!"
Sora let out an embarrassed 'eep'.
"Sorry Mickey, Donald, Goofy." Riku said.
"No worries!"
Terra chuckled.